That's What Brothers Are For
by Horsetamer5
Summary: Jim Kirk comforts Chekov after he gets hurt. Post STID, No slash.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey! So, this is my first Star Trek fic so I apologize for any mistakes or if characters are OOC. This is my first Star Trek fic so please be nice! **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

It all happened so fast, one minute he was running down the pathway, not paying attention to where he was going; All he knew was that he needed to get away from all the stress and upset.

The next minute, he was laying sprawled, face down on the concrete, his whole body hurting and shaking with barely suppressed sobs. His hands and face stung as hot tears ran down in rivulets, making him cry even harder. Why was everything going so wrong today?

Suddenly, he felt a gentle hand on his back and heard the familiar voice gently say, "Oh, Pavel, you just don't seem to ever have it easy do you kid?"

Pavel felt someone gently help him to roll onto his back and suddenly, he was face to face with Captain James T. Kirk, his friend and surrogate older brother.

Now that the shock of the fall had worn off, the pain hit Pavel full force and he began to sob even harder than before.

Sighing, Jim slid his hands under the teens arms and helped him into a sitting position, immediately drawing the boy against his chest.

"It's alright, Pasha," Jim murmured quietly, "I gotcha, you're gonna be fine."

"E-eet h-hurts!" Pavel sobbed, by now having given up trying to be a brave soldier. Right now he was just a kid who was hurting in too many ways to count; a kid who just needed the comfort and reassurance that only his "big brother" could provide.

Sensing this, Jim drew the boy tighter against his chest and kissed the top of his head, "I know it hurts, Pasha," he consoled as he stood up still holding the seventeen-year-old. Jim silently cursed as he remembered that Dr. McCoy was back in Georgia for the next week.

"Of all the weeks for Bones to be gone, it has to be this one," Jim thought, "luckily i've picked up a few things from him and the kid doesn't seem to have any major injuries."

"Don't worry kid," Jim said quietly, rocking Pavel slightly in an attempt to soothe him, "We're gonna get you back the apartment, and cleaned up. You'll feel way better after that, I promise."

The walk back to the apartment was almost silent, Pavel was still crying quietly, although he had calmed significantly from when Jim first found him. As he continued to walk, it occurred to Jim, how small and light Pavel was. He was much smaller and frailer than other boys his age. Jim made a mental note to talk to Bones about that when the other man returned.

Once they entered the apartment Jim immediately walked into the bathroom and grabbed the first aid kit. After that, he gently set the young teenager on the bathroom counter and checked over his injuries.

Pavel had a split lip along with some pretty nasty scrapes on his face and arms. The palms of the boy's hands were scraped raw and still weeping blood. However, the injury that really caught Jim's attention was the huge scrape on Pavel's knee.

The teen's entire kneecap was a bloody mess, it looked as if the skin around the wound had been either torn or completely scraped off. All of the wounds still had dirt trapped inside them.

Getting the abrasions clean was the Jim's main priority, although he absolutely dreaded causing his little brother any more pain. Steeling himself, Jim took a cloth and poured antiseptic on to it, gently beginning to wipe at the scrape on Pavel's knee.

Pavel let out a small scream and jerked his leg away.

"I know it hurts, Pasha," Kirk said gently as the boy began to cry again, "But we need to get this cleaned up so that it won't get infected."

"I know, but e-eet hurts wery badly!" Pavel sobbed.

"How about we try water instead," Jim suggested, rubbing a comforting hand on the boy's uninjured knee "it'll probably hurt less."

"O-okay," Pavel said, his voice trembling.

As Kirk continued to clean the scrapes, he tried to console Pavel as best he could by offering words of encouragement and praise. By the time he was done, they were both exhausted.

Jim sighed, now came the hardest part. Pavel had three small rocks trapped under the skin on his hand, the stones had to come out or the boy would get an infection.

"Nyet!" Pavel screamed, as he jerked his hand back and cradled it against his chest. "Please Keptain! I don't vant to hurt anymore!" By now the boy was near hysterical, his small frame racking with sobs.

Knowing that Pavel wasn't just talking about the physical pain, Jim took the sobbing teen in his arms and lifted him off of the counter. Holding the boy close to his chest as he paced slowly around the room. In that moment, it hit him just how young Pavel Chekov really was.

At seventeen the kid may have looked and acted like an adult on the outside, but inside, he had the emotional maturity of a child just entering their teens. Pavel was good at acting mature beyond his years but there were some times when the boy's younger side really showed.

Of course, no one could blame him, at seventeen, Pavel had been exposed to more hurt and trauma than most would encounter in an entire lifetime. Of course there was going to be a breaking point and that point had been reached today.

"It okay, buddy," Jim murmured, rubbing a comforting hand down the boy's back, "I know you're hurting. All of this it's hit ya hard, huh?"

Pavel nodded, continuing to cry.

It took some time but the teen finally calmed down enough so they could finish the unpleasant task.

Later that night, after getting Pavel settled into bed, Jim stood by the window of the apartment, staring out at the lights of the city.

In that moment, Jim knew for certain that everything was gonna be alright.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey! So, this is my first Star Trek fic so I apologize for any mistakes or if characters are OOC. This is my first Star Trek fic so please be nice! **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

Pain. That was all he felt, a horrible pain in his stomach, like someone was stabbing him with a red-hot knife and burning him from the inside out. He barely managed to get out of bed and stagger into his "older brother's" room.

Jim was woken out of a dead sleep by a small hand tugging frantically on his own. Opening his eyes, he saw his "younger brother" Pavel Chekov standing by his bedside. The boy was clutching his stomach and tears of pain and confusion were streaming down his face.

"What's wrong, Pasha?" Jim asked worriedly, sitting up and placing a hand on the boy's forehead. He was burning up.

"E-everyzing h-hurts," Pavel gasped, "I felt seek all day, I zought eet vood go avay."

Jim felt his stomach lurch with dread, all of these symptoms pointed to one thing. Appendicitis.

Helping the boy to lay down, Jim grabbed a hand-held temperature scanner from the first aid kit in the bathroom. Placing the scanner on the Pavel's forehead, Jim took the boy's hand in his own and squeezed gently.

The scanner pinged, and Jim frowned as he looked at the reading. 103.2 and climbing , a sure sign that something was very wrong.

"That's it, I'm calling Bones," Jim said, grabbing his communicator.

"Goddamnit Jim!" Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy answered, "It's two in the morning, you better have a damn good reason for calling me and god help me if you did something stupid-"

"Bones, it's Pavel," Jim said frantically, "he's sick, really sick and I have no idea what to do. He's got a high fever and he's in a lot of pain. I need your help. Please, Bones!"

"Calm down, Jim," Bones said, "I'm on my way over, just try to keep Pavel awake and talking. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"K-keptin," Pavel whimpered, "I-I'm scared, I'm wery scared."

"It's gonna be alright, Pasha" Jim said, laying down on the bed and taking the seventeen year old in his arms and running a hand through the boy's hair. Jim's mind drifted back to the many nights after his "death" when Pavel had come into Jim's room just to make sure that his Captain and "brother" was still alive.

At first, there were days where Pavel just refused to leave Jim's side. Hell, it had taken about 30 minutes to calm the boy when Jim went on his first away mission. After he had fully recovered, Jim began to really understand the effect of his actions on his crew. Particularly on Pavel.

Jim was shaken out of his reverie by a gently hand on his shoulder. It was Bones.

Sitting up, Jim shifted the boy in his arms, "Pavel," Jim said as the boy let out a whine of protest, "Dr. McCoy is here, we need you to sit up now,"

Pavel whimpered as the two older men helped him to sit up.

After running a basic check of the kid, Bones stood up and turned to Jim, his eyes filled with worry. Bones uttered the phrase that Jim had hoped not to hear, "We've gotta get him to the hospital."

Jim sat in the hospital waiting room, his head in his hands. After they had arrived at the Medical Center, things had just gotten more chaotic. Pavel's fever had skyrocketed and as a result, the boy was delirious and terrified.

It had gotten to the point that Jim had to take the young navigator in his arms so Bones could hook him up to an IV and get him prepped for surgery.

_Pavel struggled frantically in Jim's arms, screaming, crying and clawing. Anything to get out of this hell he was in._

_"Pavel," Jim said sternly, secretly hating that he was being so harsh but he needed to snap the kid out of it. "You need to calm down, I know you are scared and in pain but all you are doing is making this much harder than it needs to be. You are an officer in Star Fleet, act like it!_

_Pavel looked up at his older brother, his eyes glistening with unshed tears. Laying his head against Jim's chest, he began to cry quietly. Murmuring over and over, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I deedn't mean it."_

_Sighing, Jim tucked the teenager's head against his chest and rested his chin atop Pavel's head._

_"It's gonna be alright Pasha," Jim said, rubbing a comforting hand up and down the boy's back. "Nothing's going to happen to you, Bones is a great doctor."_

_"I ain't gonna let anything happen to ya, Pav," Bones said, taking the boy from Jim's arms and laying him on the bed. "you're gonna feel a thousand times better after we fix ya up."_

"Well," Bones said, startling Jim out of his thoughts, "I was right, his appendix was ruptured. We drained everything we could from his stomach so he should be alright; but I wanna

keep the kid here for a few days and start him on some antibiotics just to be sure."

Jim nodded, "can I see him?" he asked.

"Yeah, but he's still pretty out of it because of the meds, so don't be worried if he doesn't respond immediately."

Jim nodded and followed his best friend to the room where Pavel was resting.

Pavel jerked awake, looking around frantically. Panicked, he tried to sit up, letting out a small scream as something pulled at the skin on his stomach.

Suddenly, he felt himself be pulled into someone's arms, he immediately relaxed realising that he was being held by his Captain, his "big brother." The combination of the relief and the pain medication caused Pavel to lose his composure.

Jim reached out and, minding the medical equipment, took the boy into his arms and settled Pavel on his lap, rocking the boy slightly.

As much as he hated to admit it, Jim was becoming used to his charge's emotional "episodes." Jim's near death had shaken Pavel to the core and now they were dealing with the repercussions.

Pavel now had severe attachment issues and was afraid to be away from any of the crew, especially Jim for long periods of time. When Jim had been recovering from his radiation poisoning, Lt. Nyota Uhura had taken care of Pavel and Jim remembered Uhura telling him that Pavel had barely eaten and almost never left Jim's side.

It upset Jim to think of the reprocussions on the youngest member of his crew and now he had almost lost Pavel to Appendicitis.

As he held the boy against his chest, Jim vowed that he would make things right, no matter what it took.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey! So, this is my first Star Trek fic so I apologize for any mistakes or if characters are OOC. This is my first Star Trek fic so please be nice! **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

Pavel took a deep breath and followed Nyota Uhura and Spock into the Medical Center. This was the first time he had seen Jim since the captain had been hospitalised for radiation poisoning.

Once they were inside, Pavel unconsciously moved closer to Nyota as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy strided over to them.

Kneeling in front of the teenager, Bones put his hands on Pavel's shoulders.

"Pasha," Bones said gently, "before we go in there, I wanna let you know that Jim is going to be just fine. However, I also wanna tell ya that you may see some stuff you have never seen before. Jim has a lot of tubes in him right now; he also has a lot of bandages on him and there is a special machine in there that is cleaning his blood of the radiation. It is probably gonna look pretty scary for ya but all of that stuff in him is helping get him better. I just don't want ya to freak out when you see him."

"Ees- ees ze keptin in any pain?" Pavel asked in a small voice

"Oh, kid," Bones said gently reaching hand out to brush gently against the boy's forehead. "Jim's not in any pain at all. We got him pumped full of the strongest pain drugs known to man."

"O-okay," Pavel said, "can I see heem now?"

"Sure kid," Bones said, gently.

"Spock," said Nyota, "I think you should go in with Pavel. You know more about what is going on than I do. You and Bones are better equipped to answer any questions that Pasha has."

In the end, all three of them entered the room with Pavel. Pavel whimpered when he saw Jim laying on the Biobed and he pressed himself close to Nyota. Her maternal instincts taking over, Uhura drew Pavel into her arms held him, gently stroking his hair.

"It's alright to be scared, Pasha." she murmured gently as the boy sobbed quietly, "I know it's pretty intimidating to see but remember that Dr. McCoy said the captain is going to be fine."

After a moment, Pavel was able to regain his composure and he stoically walked over to the side of the bed.

"Do you wanna lay with him for a bit?" Bones asked gently, sensing the child's discomfort.

Pavel nodded and Spock walked over and gently lifted the young navigator onto the Biobed.

Almost immediately, Pavel curled against Jim's side and rested his head over the captain's heart feeling the slow but strong heartbeat. Within a few minutes, the exhaustion of worrying for his guardian and from the nightmares finally caught up with Pavel and he finally fell into the first peaceful sleep in weeks.

"This is really good for him," Nyota said, reaching over to gently stroke the sleeping boy's hair. "Poor Pasha, he hasn't had a good sleep in weeks. Like clockwork every night since Jim has been in the hospital, he will wake up crying in the middle of the night. There have been a few nights that he didn't wake Spock and I up, but we could still tell when that he hadn't slept. I have even thought of trying to give him sleeping meds just so he can get some rest. Also, he has almost completely stopped eating. Both Spock and I have had to threaten to take him to the Emergency Room and put him on an IV just to get him to eat something.

"He cannot go on like this," commented Spock, "if he continues down this road, I fear he too may end up in the hospital."

"Damnit," Bones muttered, "poor kid already has trouble sleeping with his hyperactivity disorder we were managing it before but this whole ordeal has added a whole new level of stress to the situation."

Walking over to the medical cabinet, Bones took out a bottle of pills and handed them to Spock.

"Alright," Bones explained turning back to Spock and Uhura, " Since you two are his guardians for the time being, you know that the kid is already taking Adderall so I wanna double his dose of that. Give him one dose at night as well as in the morning. I also want to put the kid on a mild sedative at night for the duration of the time that Jim is in the hospital. It may make him groggy during the day but that's a side effect I am willing to live with. I am also gonna inject him with him with a Vitamin Booster since you said he hasn't been eating much. There is not much that we can do about him not eating except to give him supplements and injection and hope that everything will normalize relatively quickly. We took Jim off the ventilator last night so we should be able wake him from his coma and remove most of the tubes in a few more days. After that, he should be able to get out of here within a month."

As he spoke, Bones injected Pavel with the hypo and silently prayed that the disturbance wouldn't wake the kid up.

Pavel let out a small whimper and turned his head away from the source of his discomfort but he did not wake.

The kid was fast asleep, in a world far away from all of the fear and pain. A world where his family was complete once again.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey! So, this is my first Star Trek fic so I apologize for any mistakes or if characters are OOC. This is my first Star Trek fic so please be nice! **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

Pavel Chekov was awoken in the middle of the night by the sound of blaring sirens. Blinking sleepily, he looked out the window just in time to see three more emergency vehicles rush past, sirens blaring.

Concerned, Pavel climbed out of bed, involuntary shivering as his bare feet touched the cold floor and walked over to the large window of his room. Looking out over the cityscape, he saw flames and smoke rising from the Daystrom Research Center. Pavel felt his stomach lurch with dread, Jim Kirk, his guardian was in that building.

_"Vhat eef he eez hurt, vhat eef he is dead?"_ Pavel thought frantically, as he turned and sprinted out of his room.

When Pavel entered the living room, he saw Lt. Nyota Uhura sitting at the table, reading a PADD. The news on the view screen behind her showed the very thing that Pavel had feared, there had in fact been an attack on the Daystrom Research Institute.

A gentle hand on his shoulder snapped Pavel out of his thoughts and he now realised that he was crying.

"Oh Pasha," Uhura said gently, drawing the boy into a fierce embrace and kissing the top of his head, "what's wrong, sweetie?"

"I-I h-heard ze sirens blaring a-and zat v-voke me up. I v-vent o-ower to ze vindow and saw all ze flames and ze s-smoke. N-now I know zat eet ees coming from Daystrom and J-Jeem ees zere right now and he ees probably hurt," Pavel sobbed.

"Oh sweetie," Nyota murmured, holding the crying boy tighter, "Jim and Spock are both fine. In fact, Jim called me about five minutes ago to let me know that he and Spock will be back in less than an hour."

"I-I do not v-vant to go back to sleep," Pavel said, regaining his composure.

"You don't have to go back to sleep yet if you don't want to, Pasha." Uhura said, stepping back and grabbing her PADD. You can stay up with me until Jim gets back.

True to their word, Jim and Spock returned to the apartment about forty-five minutes later. Pavel was so engrossed in what Nyota was reading him that he jumped and let out a small yelp when his older brother came up behind him.

"Well Pasha," Jim said teasingly, "I didn't even think it was possible for you stay up this late,"

Pavel grinned and threw himself against Jim, throwing his arms around the older man's neck.

"I vas so vorried vhen I voke up and saw ze flames and ze smoke out my vindow, I zought zat you vere hurt or ewen dead," Pavel murmured, pressing his face into the crook of Jim's neck.

Jim sighed and gently lifted Pavel into his arms, cradling the boy against him while he said goodnight to Spock and Uhura.

Once they were alone, Jim made his way to sit on the couch, still holding the young navigator in his arms. For a long time, both of them were completely silent, just enjoying each other's company.

Suddenly, Pavel turned, looked at his big brother and asked, "Ees Admiral Pike okay, vas he hurt?"

Sighing, Jim shifted Pavel on his lap so that the boy was facing him.

"Kiddo," Jim said, taking a deep breath to ward off the flood of emotion that threatened to consume him, "what you've gotta understand is that in an attack like this, a lot people made sacrifices for the greater good, Admiral Pike was one of those people."

"S-so h-he ees….?" Pavel trailed off, his whole body beginning to tremble.

"Yeah Pasha," Jim murmured, "he is dead."

That was the last straw, the dam that was keeping Pavel's emotions at bay broke and the kid leaned against his big brother's chest and sobbed.

For a few minutes, Jim just held his little brother, letting the kid cry and whispering quiet words of comfort.

However, when Pavel began gasping for air, it became clear that if the kid continued crying like this, he was going to make himself sick.

Knowing that he needed to calm the kid down, Jim slid his hand under his little brother's shirt and gently rubbed a hand down Pavel's back.

"Shh, Pasha," Kirk murmured, "its gonna be alright, I know it doesn't seem like it now but it's gonna be alright."

"E-eet e-ees n-not fair!" the seventeen-year-old sobbed.

"I know kiddo," Jim murmured, pressing a kiss to the top of the boy's head, "believe me I know. I also know that there is nothing I can say or do that will make the hurt stop. But I _can_ promise you one thing Pavel," Jim said, looking the teenager in the eye, "You will _never_ be alone."

They sat there for what seemed like hours, Jim holding the teen on his lap, rocking him and whispering reassurances. After a while, Jim heard Pavel's ragged breathing even out and he looked down to find the boy fast asleep, his hands still fisted in Jim's formal uniform.

Sighing, Jim stood up, adjusting the boy in his arms and carried the sleeping teen into his bedroom; knowing full well Pavel would not want to sleep alone.

Jim had just gotten Pavel on his bed and was turning to change out of his uniform when Pavel shifted and let out a pitiful whimper that sent a pang through Jim's heart.

"K-keptin, I don' vant to be alone," Pavel murmured sleepily.

"You're not gonna be alone, Pasha," Jim murmured gently as he carded his hand through the boy's hair. "I'm just gonna get ready for bed and then I'll be right back, okay?"

"O-okay. 'lowe you" Pavel said, closing his eyes and easily falling back into the peaceful oblivion of sleep.

Smiling, Jim leaned down and pressed a kiss to the sleeping teen's forehead.

"Love you too, kid," he murmured fondly, "love you too."


End file.
